Spying

Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Michigan, 14th District, Ranking Member, U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Dean, Congressional Black Caucus
www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/index.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressmen John Conyers, Jr., Bobby Scott and Chris Van Hollen and other Members to hold a Democratic Hearing to consider the legal ramifications of President Bush's warrantless surveillance.

Former Vice President Says Legislators From Both Parties Did Not Do Enough To Stop Secret Activities
By TEDDY DAVIS, ABC News

Jan. 16, 2006 — - In an impassioned speech about President Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping program, former Vice President Al Gore said in Washington, DC, on Monday that "the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently."

BY HUGH (BUCK) DAVIS and ROBERT A. SEDLER, Detroit Free Press

Downplayed in the furor over the revelations that President George W. Bush's National Security Agency is intercepting the telephone and e-mail communications of U.S. citizens is the fact that the Supreme Court has long held that warrantless wiretapping of American citizens in the name of national security violates the Fourth Amendment. The court made that ruling in a 1972 case originating in Michigan. It's popularly known as the Keith case, after highly respected Detroit federal Judge Damon J. Keith, who rendered the initial decision deeming such wiretapping unconstitutional.

By Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | www.truthout.org

The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document.

The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups.

By JESSICA YELLIN, ABC News

Jan. 11, 2006 — Former CIA General Counsel Jeffrey Smith will testify in House hearings that there is no legal basis for President Bush's controversial National Security Agency domestic surveillance program, ABC News has learned.

ABC News has obtained a copy of a 14-page memo Smith wrote to the House Select Committee on Intelligence in which he argues that the wiretaps are illegal.

By ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Congressional officials said Saturday that they wanted to investigate the disclosure that the National Security Agency (NSA) had gained access to some of the country's main telephone arteries to glean data on possible terrorists.

"As far as congressional investigations are concerned, these new revelations can only multiply and intensify the growing list of questions and concerns about the warrantless surveillance of Americans," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

Contact: Dena Graziano 202-226-6888

Conyers and 26 Other Members Submit Resolution of Inquiry in House; Members Seek Documents from Attorney General Authorizing Secret Surveillance

Representative John Conyers, Jr., (D-MI) House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, along with 26 other Members today submitted a comprehensive resolution of inquiry regarding the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program on U.S. soil. If reported favorably, the resolution would instruct the Attorney General to turn over documents in his possession authorizing the warrantless electronic surveillance and the legal recommendations to do so within 14 days, subject to any necessary redactions or security classifications.